LitPick Review
In the beginning of Monster Blood Tattoo, by D.
M. Cornish, a foundling boy who has a girl's
name, Rossamünd, is selected to be a lamplighter,
a special soldier who lights and dowses lamps in
the hours that monsters and thieves are on the
prowl, in a town called High Vesting. However,
when Rossamünd boards what he believes to be the
ship that will take him to High Vesting, he
discovers that he has instead mistakenly boarded
a ship that deals in the dark trades! Rossamünd
eventually escapes the ship by jumping overboard.
When he pulls himself to land, he meets two
people in a horse-drawn carriage: Europe, a
female fulger (a person who has surgery done to
his or her body in order to cast bolts of
lightning and wields this power to fight
monsters), and Licurius, who is a leer (a person
with super-enhanced senses). Rossamünd notices
that Europe has a series of X's tattooed on her
arm, inked in the blood of each of the monsters
she's killed. Europe and Licurius agree to take
Rossamünd to High Vesting. On the way to High
Vesting, Rossamünd watches Europe kill a monster
that hadn't even harmed them. This makes
Rossamünd feel bad for the monster, which is
illegal because monsters and humans are at war.
Later on in the journey, when Europe, Rossamünd,
and Licurius are ready to rest for the night,
they are awakened by a sound in a nearby thicket.
Licurius goes to investigate and monsters leap
from the bush and kill him. Europe tries to fight
them but her body spasms and she cannot summon
her bolts of electricity. Rossamünd barely
manages to save her by throwing some monster
repellant at the creatures. Now that their
driver, Licurius, is dead, how will Europe and
Rossamünd reach High Vesting? Read Monster Blood
Tattoo to find out!
Opinion:
I LOVED Monster Blood Tattoo! The whole time I
was reading it, I was wishing I could write a
book just like it! The author used really good
details and described things well. The book also
has an "explicarium," which includes a helpful
glossary of terms and appendices that have maps,
drawings, and other useful things that help the
reader understand details of the story. I'm sure
this book will be a best seller. I would
recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy
books. I would also recommend it to anyone who
has read The Edge Chronicles.
KEYWORDS
Read more reviews by this Litpick Book Reviewer: KMeng